Karate v Kung fu

[Hong Kong Cheungy]

i'm not a big fan of judo tbh, i tried kung fu when i was in hong kong, and i learn bits and bobs from my dady

[JimmyTheHoover]

...the breakfalling has been pretty useful when chosen as Uke for Bunkai demos though....

[Hong Kong Cheungy]

lol, and now i know drunken fist is kinda poo i shall try not to fight when im drunk lol

[Lloydie]

Tried Judo for a couple of months at school.....

I used to do Judo,i hated it!It wasn't for me at all! I think I'll stick to Karate.

well as you are the UK Kumite & Kata champion, I guess that's a good call 

[rob]

i dont know if this has any relevance but kung fu being the last martial art i studied the most i still wouldnt under estimate kung fu but thats only me, i cant really be bias as now i have had a real taste of both, each martila art has there own flaws and strengths.

or should i just karate is better?

[Lloydie]

Hi Rob,

Pretty much all martial arts are "platform dependent" i.e. the bigger, fitter, faster, stronger you are, the better you will tend to be at those MAs.  Comparison between styles of MAs is therefore a pretty subjective thing.  As I said earlier in the thread, I have seen kung fu guys who really looked the business and karate-ka who looked awful - and vice versa.  The Muai Thai guys I have seen have always impressed me though........

Lloydie

[JimmyTheHoover]

That's just your Shorts Fetish kicking in Dave 

Jim

[Lloydie]

That's just your Shorts Fetish kicking in Dave 

Jim

ROTFLMA - you promised you wouldn't tell !! 

[Hong Kong Cheungy]

muay tai is impressive, expecially tony jarr, but not as good as me

[Andyeilio]

i dont know if this has any relevance but kung fu being the last martial art i studied the most i still wouldnt under estimate kung fu but thats only me, i cant really be bias as now i have had a real taste of both, each martila art has there own flaws and strengths.

or should i just karate is better?

Hi Rob,

Care to elaborate on your thoughts around strengths and weaknesses of both forms?

[rob]

well i dont think i am qualified or have enough knowledge about either form to say this is good or that isnt, but from what little experience i have there are just small things from basic stances to how to and where to attack your opponent

[Andyeilio]

well i dont think i am qualified or have enough knowledge about either form to say this is good or that isnt, but from what little experience i have there are just small things from basic stances to how to and where to attack your opponent

OK Rob, as per Mondays session, you offered to show me! maybe I will take you up on that. 

You could though just list a couple of the points you liked about your previous form, what were your favourite techniques/stances/blocks.

Did you say which style you trained in?

[rob]

alright andy you asked for it! i studied the wushu style and this mainly was based (so i was told by my shifu) on leg strength.

most of the stances are very simular to what we see in are karate style e.g kiba dachi stance was horse stance exactually the same!

in many of the forms we had to complete we had alot of transition from low to high stances, this was basically for strengthing the leg muscles.

and for technquies, well everyone has their favourites, but one thing i do remember were as to attack/punch with your body stright i was always told to extend my punching so that u wear only half showing as we do are blocking.

also another differance i noticed was that karate is used to attack the inside of ones body when in wushu i was told to always attack someone from the outside. 

[Andyeilio]

alright andy you asked for it! i studied the wushu style and this mainly was based (so i was told by my shifu) on leg strength.

most of the stances are very simular to what we see in are karate style e.g kiba dachi stance was horse stance exactually the same!

in many of the forms we had to complete we had alot of transition from low to high stances, this was basically for strengthing the leg muscles.

and for technquies, well everyone has their favourites, but one thing i do remember were as to attack/punch with your body stright i was always told to extend my punching so that u wear only half showing as we do are blocking.

also another differance i noticed was that karate is used to attack the inside of ones body when in wushu i was told to always attack someone from the outside. 

Hi Rob,

Thanks for sharing, very interesting.

Like yourself, I am only a beginnner, but as I understand it, some of the techniques in Shotokan are to the outside of the body, eg Shane loves to use a type of Mawahsi geri (ushiro Mawash?) to connect with the neck. His control is awesome, but you still get sufficient impact to know he's been there.

I really need to work on the height of my stances, and thus leg strength, so will be working hard on these for the next few weeks, Both Dave and Shari have shown me there is room for "significant" improvment.

To be honest, I thought I was getting there with back stance, but Dave hit the spot entirely on Monday when he said "you often think you have it, think you are there with a stance or technique, , but just need someone to push you, to show you your next steps"

[rob]

exactually my principle! while i studied under my wushu teacher he always did this, i remember one time when he was determined to focus just a whole lesson on improving are horse stance ( karate kiba dachi) and he did this by saying ok go into horse stance then relax horse relax then go lower in horse stance. then he said say in horse stance untill u have punched 50 times, then partner up and get your partner to jump on your back like a piggy back. now... do horse stance, relax, horse stance.....